About Gigabit Fiber

What is Fiber Internet?

Fiber Internet is an infrastructure that delivers your internet service (and possibly TV and phone!) via light through transparent glass strands. This service transmits data at speeds far greater than DSL or Cable, and is typically used as the backbone of most major Internet Service Providers.

Launch Fiber is a push to bring this infrastructure to our community, so that the end consumer can access these high speeds directly. This infrastructure is widely being considered just as important as water, gas, and electricity.

What are the benefits of ”Fiber to the Home” (FTTH)?

Speed:

At up to 1,000 Mbps, Fiber is 100 times faster than today’s basic broadband, allowing you to get what you want instantaneously. You no longer have to wait on things buffering; everything will be ready to go when you are. So whether you are video chatting, uploading family videos, or playing your favorite online games, all you need to do is click and you’re there.

Smart Grid:

A smart grid alone does three things. First, it modernizes power systems through self-healing designs, automation, remote monitoring and control, and establishment of micro-grids. Second, it informs and educates consumers about their energy usage, costs and alternative options, to enable them to make decisions autonomously about how and when to use electricity and fuels. Third, it provides safe, secure and reliable integration of distributed and renewable energy resources. All these add up to an energy infrastructure that is more reliable, more sustainable and more resilient. Thus, a smart grid sits at the heart of the smart city, which cannot fully exist without it.

Security:

Due to how they transmit data (light instead of electrical signals), Fiber optic cables can transmit far more information, with a greater degree of fidelity, over greater distances. And since it’s harder to “tap” than copper, it has the added benefit of extra security for the data being transmitted.

Safety:

It eliminates the need for grounding, and makes them immune to any type of electrical interference, even lightning. Since fiber optic cabling is so resistant to interference and atmospheric conditions, it can be used outdoors — and in close proximity to electrical cables — without concern.

A major benefit of fiber optic cable is that it doesn’t pose a threat of injury of injury from fire, sparking or electrocution to the user if it breaks, since it utilizes light and not electricity.

Fiber Optic cable is also 1/7th the weight of a typical coax cable, removing cable sag and making installation and repair easier.

Cost:

Cable cost is lower than HD-SDI cable costs ($0.25 per meter vs $1.80 per meter). Since fiber can transmit data much faster over greater distances (62 miles vs .186 miles), fiber optic costs less to maintain. This means the price for the service tends to be much less than cable and competitive with DSL.

How much does it cost?

Installation:

Using Chattanooga (a comparable market with similar size and geography) as a guide, it can be estimated that a total infrastructure cost would be around $300 million dollars. This sounds like a lot, but this number will only go up in the future as we wait to adopt this next technology.

The cost does come with paybacks, however. Cost savings in electrical outages, energy efficiency gains, constant revenue streams from providing service, and more. There is plenty of information available to show that this kind of infrastructure can and will pay for itself, something that most public infrastructure can’t do.

Monthly Cost:

For example, in Kansas City, Google Fiber offers their gigabit internet for $70 a month to residential users

In Chattanooga, EPB offers their customers fiber optic internet for $70 a month.